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'''Sir Samuel Morton Peto, 1st Baronet''' (1809-1889) could be regarded as a typical Victorian entrepreneur. As well as being a civil engineer and railway developer, he served as a commissioner for and guarantor of the Great Exhibition of 1851, and was a Member of Parliament for 15 years. In business, he liked to take a directorship or similar management role in projects with which he was associated.<ref name = "Nabarro27">[[Bibliography#Books | Nabarro (1971)]] p. 27.</ref>
Peto began a civil engineering partnership in 1834 with his cousin Thomas Grissell. An early railway related job was the construction of Birmingham Curzon Street railway station, although the business was primarily concerned with conventional building which including the Reform Club in London and Nelsons Column. Grissell eventually ended the partnership in 1846 having become increasingly nervous of the risks taken by Peto.<ref name = "Nabarro26">[[Bibliography#Books | Nabarro (1971)]] p. 26.</ref><ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peto_and_Betts Wikipedia]</ref>.
'''Edward Ladd Betts''' (1815-1872) was apprenticed to a builder but became interested in engineering. He worked on a number of railway contracts for his father’s firm, William Betts & Sons, for which he assumed full responsibility when his father retired in 1845.
In 1848 Peto and Betts enters into a formal partnership as civil engineering contractors. Their partnership, known as '''Peto and Betts''', specialised in the building of the rapidly expanding railways of the time. This partnership, which lasted until 1866, was responsible for many railway projects, including construction of the Oxford to Worcester and Tipton to Wolverhampton sections of the [[Oxford Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway]].<ref name = "Nabarro27" /> .
'''Thomas Brassey''' (1805-1870) was a civil engineering contractor and manufacturer of building materials. For many of his contracts he would enter into partnership with other contractors, including Peto and Betts. Although the partnership of the three was normally referred to as Peto, Brassey and Betts<ref>[http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Peto,_Brassey_and_Betts Graces Guide]</ref> as seen in the Canadian handbill, the ceremonial scroll buried in the foundations of [[Victoria Bridge]] referred to "Messrs. Brassey, Peto and Betts, contractors".
Brassey’s manufacturing company, Thomas Brassey and Co of Canada Works Birkenhead manufactured the wrought iron sections of [[Dowles Bridge]]. The scrollwork on [[Victoria Bridge]] also refers to "Messrs. Brassey & Co., Contractors."In another partnership, the contractors for [[Albert Edward Bridge]] were recorded as Messrs '''Brassey and Field'''.<ref>[https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Albert_Edward_Bridge Grace's Guide] Retrieved 14 October 2019</ref>
In 1854 Peto, Brassey and Betts built the Grand Crimean Central Railway between Balaklava and Sevastopol to transport supplies to troops involved in the Crimean War. He following year Peto was made a Baronet in recognition of his wartime service.
